Carl Buchanan - Mountain Bike Racer

• Tension

  I read an article yesterday concerning some pretty bad road rage between a car driver and about 50 cyclists yesterday from Sydney, Australia and was blown away that anyone in a car would take it that far. Well, we got a little taste of that last night during our group ride although, it was no where near as bad as the incident in Sydney. We started out with eight riders heading West on 27th street at around 28mph and rolling through the draft lines really smooth. Speeds were good, comfort level was good, and overall I was feeling that I might be getting the snap back in my legs. We were nearing the point where the group usually picks up the pace and I of course found myself on the front pulling. As soon as we crested a hill, I heard the attacking tires of J. Fry and he was dragging four other guys with him. I tried to latch on but didn't quite have it. Bullerman, Houlihan, and I continued to cruise along and caught back up within the mile when the rest of the group went for the sprint and then regrouped before heading North towards New Hartford. We only made it about 300 meters or so down the road when a gentleman in a gold car, such as a Toyota Camry or such, flew around us, honking his horn, and yelling something that I did not catch. We did the right thing and politely waved at him as he drove away. To our amazement he slammed on his brakes, leaving matching black marks on the pavement, and skidded off the road onto the gravel shoulder. I continued around him and on my way North at a whooping 13mph while the rest of the group had a short discussion with him. One of the riders in the group was even heard reciting the Iowa law concerning bicyclists and their rights on the roadways of Iowa. After about five minutes or so of the car driving down the shoulder while having this discussion, my fellow riders began to catch back up to me and we proceeded to pick up the pace on the way to New Hartford. The guy in the car followed us most of the way but must have turned around sometime after we kicked it up to the 30 mph mark again. It was just a reminder that as a cyclist, you need to keep your eyes peeled for the psychos behind the wheels of cars. Some of them still think that they own the roads more than we do. Anyway....after arriving in New Hartford and having a short discussion about our recent event the group of seven, Houlihan turned back for Cedar Falls right before the incident, began the section back to Cedar Falls on Beaver Valley Rd. Everything was clipping along really well and I was feeling like having a go at the next sprint. We all made it over Three-Tier hill pretty much together and the pace was in the 28mph range with a slight head wind. There were only about three of us that were actually taking pulls and I found myself on the front WAY TOO MUCH so I slowed down to about 19mph and then the group finally came around and four of them went off the front, go figure. I was alone again and giving chase. I started to pull R. Fry back in and after catching him, the two of us started to reel in Mike J. too. We were getting pretty close to the sprint and almost had Mike so I went for it about 200 meters out and was able to catch him right as I crossed the line. A little bit of satisfaction after that one. A quick regroup and we were heading back to Cedar Falls at speed again with the one last hill left before the final sprint. I hate the final hill but, Bullerman pulled me to the top and I stayed with the front riders. Approaching the final sprint I was in the back and waiting for someone to jump so that I could follow them instead. Finally, J. Fry went and I jumped on his wheel waiting for the chance to get around him. He moved back to the right towards the center of the lane and away I went around him on the left. It was a short lived sprint for me as Doug came around the right side and beat me to the line but, I was definitely feeling a lot better by the end. Legs are pretty heavy today so I'll probably take the day off for some rest. I put in 200 miles this week so I think that I deserve it. Posted May 09 2008, 07:17 AM by Official Website of Carl Buchanan

• Throttle out-of-control

  We had another small group make it's presence for the Thursday Night Pain Fest including J. Fry, Mike J., Mike F., Craig, Finn, Bullerman, Carey, and myself of course. Surprised J. Fry with my camera that he loves so much This was the view that I had of the group a couple of times last night. The wind was coming from the SSE so we opted for the Dike-Hudson loop and the pain that it provides with it's rolling hills and head/crosswinds. It did not take too long before I fell off the back a wee bit but Bullerman and I fought to stay in touch rolling West out of Cedar Falls on 27th St. With a quick regroup we began to head South into the wind towards Dike. The wind was playing havoc on our group and it seemed like the organization was a little on the sloppy side so I decided to launch myself off the front a couple of times to jump-start things and get the group working together to break through the wind. Eventually J. Fry, Mike J., and I were off the front and heading for the sprint into Dike. J. Fry had a touch too much of a lead for me to fully bridge so I let him go with around 50 meters to the sprint. Another regroup in Dike before taking it pretty easy for a couple more Southern miles towards Reinbeck still took their toll on me. I pulled up a hill with J. Fry and sure enough was attacked at the top which shot me out the back yet again. Lucky for me Mike F. and Carey soon came up behind me and were able to help me get to the next turn headed for Hudson. Things were ticking along pretty well with the pace steadily climbing and then J. Fry., Mike J., and I were off the front again and pulling a nice gap. I could only hang on for a few miles before J. Fry pulled hard up one of the larger rollers and spit me out into no-man's-land. I did what I could to keep going while Bullerman, Mike F., and Finn came up behind me and I latched on. Our group was struggling though and it didn't take long until it was just Bullerman and me sharing time on the front and trying to chase down the two leaders. The two of us were actually making really good time and as we approached the final bend before Hudson, Craig motored back into our group and helped to up the pace for the last few miles. We made up some good ground but, not quite enough to get back with the lead two. Great ride of suffering which was exactly what I was looking for. My total ride was about 58 miles of torture so I am quite happy with that. Cruising back into town along the bike trail on Hwy 63 allowed us to see some of the results of all of the recent rains and flooding that we have had. This is part of the trail near the defunct Greyhound Park at the corner of Hwy 63 and Hwy 20 in Waterloo. The water did a number on a fairly large chunk of the trail here by washing out the ground under and around the trail. The picture is not a good one but, it shows my point. Posted May 02 2008, 07:07 AM by Official Website of Carl Buchanan

• Throttle control

  We had a whooping six people show up for the group ride last night, probably due to the lower temperatures. I know that it was 55F when I arrived home at 4pm and when I left at 5pm it felt like the temps had already started dropping. I actually went back home after less than a mile to grab my knee warmers to help keep some heat in. Wish I would have grabbed a heavier jersey too but I didn't and it was getting pretty darn chilly by 8:30pm when I arrived at home. The six of us set out on the very familiar Finchford-Janesville loop at a nice little warmup pace of around 25mph. There were a couple of attacks here and now but nothing that was too crazy and the five of us were heading into Finchford together when J. Fry, Doug E., and Mike J. went off the front while Bullerman and I stayed together and worked to keep them close. The first group didn't get very far when Mike J. was spit out the back and we welcomed him into our pair to form a little group of three. Nothing too fancy after that, just keeping the others in sight and working our way to Janesville for a little bit of easier effort through town. Once we left Janesville though, it was back to splitsville with the same group of three off the front while Bullerman, Meyermann and I gave chase. We kept them really close this time and almost were on their rear wheels when we turned to head South back to Waterloo. The group of three pulled away again and Bullerman and I really put in some effort to keep in touch. The low early season base miles were starting to play for me with every pull being a touch harder than the last one. We were about four miles North of Waterloo when I picked up the pace just a bit to try to bridge back to Mike J. who was riding solo between the two groups. Turns out that I dropped my riding buddy in the process and it took me about 3.5 miles to catch Mike J. Almost a TT like effort put down for the final section of the group ride. My legs are felling it today which is good. I can tell that things are still getting back to normal as far as my riding goes. This month's ride time is almost on par with 2007 so hopefully I'll be able to step it up a notch or two in May to get things fully back on track. Easy spin scheduled for this afternoon to get the soreness out of my legs and then more throttle control on Thursday. Posted Apr 30 2008, 07:14 AM by Official Website of Carl Buchanan

• Too much H2O

  Small group of five on the road ride last night including Mike J., Mike F., Kat, Bottke and myself. With a small group and some fairly ggod winds from the SE we kept it fairly calm and did the New Hartford loop. Mostly just rolling hills with a couple of tough ones, overall really friendly. Mike, Mike, and I had some fun contesting the sprints and what not but, most of the ride was keeping the group together and riding in a pace line. It's a good chance for those who are not able to get out with the group as often to get some training time and practice drafting. In other news, it's still raining. Raining way too much. Farm fields are under water, the river and creeks are out of their banks, businesses are under water, streets are getting closed, and people are having to evacuate their homes. Third time do far this year. The ground is so saturated right now that we could probably go without rain for a month and be just fine. I really hope that it stops very soon. Posted Apr 25 2008, 08:39 AM by Official Website of Carl Buchanan

• Fitness......it's coming back

  Headed out for a warmup through the park and around Big Woods Lake around 4:45 yesterday afternoon to get ready for the Tuesday Night Group Pain Session. There were a lot of newer faces in the parking lot behind Bike Tech last night including everything from Cat. 2 racers to recreational roadies. I was feeling pretty good and was making mental notes of what to expect from the night's festivities. The wind was coming from the North(ish) so J. Fry and I declared that we would head to Finchford and Janesville then back to Waterloo. I decided that my plan would be to ride a little smarter than normal. :) If a group went off the front I was not going to chase just to do it unless I knew that I had it in me to really contribute. The group stayed together pretty well almost all the way to Finchford. That is where J. Fry and Finn layed down an attack and headed for 3-tier hill at full speed. I worked with Craig, Mike, and Taylor in an attempt to reel them back in before we arrived at Center St. which is about 6 miles or so of mostly rollers. The four of us worked very well together and actually made up some good time on the leading duo But, not enough to catch them. As the pace continued to increase, it ended up coming down to Mike, Taylor and myself for the first sprint of the night. I held out as long as I could before taking off down the right side of the road over the rumble strips. That was my first sprint of the year and it didn't feel too bad. Conserved just enough energy during the chase to make the sprint worthwhile. The next leg was a pretty calm spin/regroup into Janesville before heading East to Wagner Rd. The East leg has a few small hills on it that increase in size as we go East. Speeds slowly increased until there were only four of us left and the pace was still increasing. I started watching the other three riders waiting for one of them to make a move so that I could tag along for a pull to the second sprint. Going up one of the final hills, J. Fry lurched forward and was almost off the front but, I was able to grab his rear wheel and stick with him over the top pulling Finn with me. A couple of seconds later Finn went for the sprint and I dug in to stay on his wheel before working my around him and slowly edging ahead right at the line. Sweet. Next was a right turn and we headed South to Waterloo for the next seven miles. J. Fry picked up the pace right away but, it was a little too much for me so I sat up a touch while J. Fry and Finn rode off the front. I waited for Mike, Taylor, and Craig to catch back up and the four of us worked very well together to get back to town at a pretty quick pace. We were able to drop Taylor close to town and then I got the jump on Craig and Mike for my one last piece of all out effort on the night. I have to admit that I was very pleased with how I rode last night, definitely a little bit of a confidence booster with a lot of training left to go. A few of us discussed race plans and I am thinking that I may make my 2008 debut over Memorial Day weekend if everything goes as planned for the next few weeks. Easy spin on the CX bike tonight to go out and visit the TT course since the TTs start tonight. I will not be participating but, I;ll stop out to say hello nonetheless. Posted Apr 23 2008, 07:10 AM by Official Website of Carl Buchanan

• Finally getting the time in

  Even though we were bombarded with rain this past week I was still able to get away from the torture of my house (removed 48 gallons of water from my basement in two days) for a couple of hours on each of Saturday and Sunday to log some road miles. Saturday was a solo ride along the New Hartford loop with a 14 mph wind from the North. Actually became quite a nice workout when I was out in the countryside with no windbreaks. Temps stayed in the low 50s and there was just a bit of drizzle during the last few miles but, overall it was really good. No huge goals just yet other than logging the miles and controlling the breathing during efforts and hills. I'll probably start working some intervals in within the next week or two. Sunday was a calm ride out to Hudson with Blue in the afternoon. Temps were in the 70s which meant that the arm warmers and knee warmers could stay at home while I went out to work on my tan. Had to kick it old school since my jersey selection is a little on the lacking side so I was in the good ol' blue and white Cannondale kit. We headed for the bike trail to ride out towards Hudson and bumped into Super Saul. He was just returning from Hudson and also stated that he wad put in like 108 miles on Saturday too. Guy is training like crazy for the Dirty Kanza. A few more miles down the trail and we spotted Doug E. on his return trip from Hudson, popular place today, and he decided to join us for a few more "group"miles. Always good to have some company. I think that I may have to call in a favor and see if I can pull a couple of the 'Cannondale Stage 1' short sleeve jerseys to match my long sleeve jerseys and bibs. The locals have kind of become accustomed to seeing me wear this so I would help with keeping me visible. That way I can sport the mass amounts of color on and off all year round. What do you think about that? Hmmmmmm......please? :) Posted Apr 20 2008, 10:32 PM by Official Website of Carl Buchanan

• 4 Years, 9 days....

  My last night working at Europa Cycle & Ski was last night....16 April 2008. My first day there was 7 April 2004. I did the exact same thing on both nights too. Assembled one bicycle and spent time working the sales floor. I am sure that the bike I built on day one was an entry-level hybrid or comfort bike but, last night I went out in style. Brett requested that I assemble a bike that one of her friends had purchased so I was delighted to finish my days at Europa with a 2008 Cannondale Synapse 3 Carbon. It was no easy task to call it quits at Europa by any means. The knowledge that I was able to absorb while there is absolutely priceless as are the friendships that have been created. Europa represents the second longest job that I have held, the first being my.....gulp....14 years at POS. That one is still going too. I truly would like to find employment in the bicycle industry somewhere since it is where I find myself most comfortable. No hurry though since I am just a little picky about where I would like to go. ;) I think that I will take some time to get my fitness back where it needs to be for the summer racing season while getting my suffrage levels way up for cx season in the fall. Posted Apr 17 2008, 07:18 AM by Official Website of Carl Buchanan

• Time for pain

  I was able to make it to my first group ride of the year last night. It was a smaller group of eight riders of varying abilities which was good for me since my training has been well under the norm so far this year. Hopefully last night's ride was the turning point of that problem though. I headed out about an hour early in an attempt to get the blood flowing through my legs again. Rode around on the paved trails in Waterloo and Cedar Falls putting in a few slow sprint efforts and a couple of climbing intervals to get things going. I was out in the open a few times and really got a feel foe how brutal the wind was going to be. It was almost directly out of the South at around 20-30 mph and stayed pretty steady. I was feeling fairly decent around 5:50 and decided to head over to Bike Tech to meet up with whoever decided to come out and play. We decided to head West out of town on 27th street before turning South into the wind until we reached Dike and then return along the same route. The crosswinds on the way out were doing their part to tear our small group apart as we worked to stay together just as much as we worked to keep our bikes upright. It did not take long before we were down to a group of five and then I was spit out the back. I tooled along keeping the leaders in sight and worked to get my form back. I then saw Craig get spit out and tried to bridge back to him but, although I was gaining on him I just didn't quite have enough to catch up. The trip South to Dike was a tough one, for me anyway. Wind resistance training is great in the overall scheme of things but, at the beginning of the season it is definitely tough. Once in Dike, we regrouped and then made our way back to Cedar Falls along the same route. Heading North was great of course and then going back East was another lesson in keeping the bike upright. Once back to town, I rode with Paul Meyermann for a few miles and talked about riding before I then peeled off and headed home. I was bouncing in and out of my own pain cave last night which is exactly what I needed. It will help me gauge where I am now and what I need to do to get myself ready for the racing season. Weathering permitting, more of the same on Thursday night. Posted Apr 16 2008, 07:26 AM by Official Website of Carl Buchanan

• Need to get back...

  ...on the blogging track. Things have been a bit crazy around here for the last few weeks so my blogging and my riding have both suffered for it, badly. It seems to rain every day that I am NOT working and of course the weather is perfect every day that I am. I have been going crazy with it to the point that I went for a ride in the rain just to get out on the bike. Riding in the rain is like prepping for CX season anyway, right? Although, a 90 minute ride in the rain equated to a 45 minute bath for my bike...not a great delegation of time really. Oh well, things should start get back on track this week. I did make it up to the Finchford-Roubaix road race this past weekend to see some friends and meet a couple of my teammates from Rasmussen's. Lou and Nathan contested the Pro/1/2 race while Pete and Pig contested the Cat. 3s. There is a new blogger in the world as of yesterday and it could prove to be a very good read once they get settled in. Living life in beautiful Switzerland and hanging out with the Liquigas pro cycling team is Masini. Should have some good reading as well as some sweet videos from time to time so be sure to head over that way and check things out. Posted Apr 15 2008, 07:10 AM by Official Website of Carl Buchanan

• I was able to get out for three consecutive days of riding this week. Amazing. Thursday was going to be a fairly easy spin on the CX bike through Black Hawk but, it turned into a bit of a resistance workout by the time I was heading through the park itself. Lot of trail that still had snow and ice on it so I just worked on powering through it and trying to keep the front wheel straight. The longest stretch was about 200 feet or so long and about 3-4 inches deep so it was a pretty nice little piece of effort. Then there were short little patches across the trail here and there with the last one being about 9 inches deep....stopped me cold in my tracks. I did a quick dismount, shouldered the X-Fire, and ran through the 50 foot section like it was still CX season. Very nice. Friday afternoon was a ride up to Finchford on the SystemSix to check out the road conditions from the chip-n-seal they did last year. Turn One is the only part of the course effected by this and it does not look bad at all. Should not pose any problems during the race in a couple of weeks time. Lots of wind from the NE made this one a bit of a workout too and combined with Thursday's resistance, my thighs were a little tender so Saturday was going to be an easy day. Heading towards Three-Tier Hill in Finchford. Took the SystemSix out for some wind training to Hudson and back with Blue. Average speeds were under 13mph...very relaxing. Posted Mar 30 2008, 10:29 PM by Official Website of Carl Buchanan

• SystemSix out to play

  Had some time to ride on Saturday and opted to take the SystemSix out for a little bit of Iowa asphalt. Kept it pretty short with a 90 minute ride out and about the country roads to see how the snow is melting and how the roads handled the winter weather. The asphalt seemed to fair a little bit better than the concrete did overall. Busted up concrete all over the place ready to swallow a small car in some areas. Temps were around 30F which actually makes for a pretty nice ride as long as I kept moving. Stopped for one minor adjustment and could definitely feel the cool breeze from the North. Probably should have worn my Cannondale LE booties too; toes were a little chilled when I got back home. SystemSix out for it's first ride of 2008. This bike is absolute bliss on the roads. Many of the locals have been riding this stuff....I passed on Saturday. I went with the Oakley Raders on Saturday. Very comfy and fit with the helmet extremely well. Posted Mar 23 2008, 10:09 PM by Official Website of Carl Buchanan

• Wagon walking

  Amy and I took Rhea for a short walk in her wagon yesterday since the weather wasn't too bad. She tends to get a little on the happy side when she gets to go for a ride. Should be interesting to see her in the Burley trailer this year too, she might even stay awake this time. Picked her up from my Mom and she started cheesing from ear to ear as soon as she saw the wagon. Sun was a little bright so Amy hooked her up with her Oakley Gascans. Note the very cool argyle "O". Polished Rootbeer with Bronze lenses Posted Mar 20 2008, 07:28 AM by Official Website of Carl Buchanan

• Share the Road

  Plates are in. Now go get yours. Posted Mar 19 2008, 02:55 PM by Official Website of Carl Buchanan

• Project: X-Fire - rolling

  It's done and went out for it's first ride this afternoon and I have to admit that it's great. Super stiff. Very smooth. Perfect fit. Carbon straight blade fork with TRP EuroX brakes Campagnolo Centaur Carbon 10 Speed Centaur shifting with Veloce gearing Lots of carbon Oakley Racing Jackets and my cool new helmet light....very cool It may be a Ridley but, I still love my Cannondales Ready for action Posted Mar 18 2008, 11:10 PM by Official Website of Carl Buchanan

• Spring cleaning

  Project X-Fire is down to one final needed item.....bar tape. Cleaned up my room a bit this weekend too. It's amazing how much junk collects underneath a workbench over time. Pitched out a ton of stuff and built a new bench that has two levels so that I can actually store everything in a nice orderly manner. It even has just enough room underneath it that my rollers fit nice and snug on the floor. Current plans are to brace the old bench and put a new top on it before putting it back into service. Old bench New Bench Posted Mar 10 2008, 07:21 AM by Official Website of Carl Buchanan